鶹ý’s five-year strategic plan, “Forward-Focused: Where Innovation Meets Possibilities,” is built around seven key areas: Academic Excellence; Branding, Marketing, and Communication; Corporate/ Community Partnerships and Economic Development; Philanthropic Giving and Alumni Engagement; Research Growth; Strategic Enrollment Growth; and Student Engagement and Success. Together, these focal areas lay the groundwork for the University’s development and growth during the next five years. The various goals and strategies defined in these areas, along with their associated key performance indicators (KPIs), will bring the University’s vision to successful fruition.
Academic excellence has been a hallmark of the University since its founding in 1930. The University continues to serve as a baccalaureate institution of access for successive waves of first-generation and underrepresented students, even as it has more recently become a training ground for professionals and researchers in pursuit of knowledge in the form of credentials, certificates, and advanced degrees.
For the University to achieve its goals, a fresh approach to branding, marketing, and communications will be required. With a strengthened infrastructure and expanded staffing, University Communications will build a powerful brand, utilizing a new overarching logo, which internal and external audiences will embrace.
Corporate and community partnerships are central to the University’s mission. By strengthening the University’s infrastructure and culture around these relationships, the University will generate innovation and entrepreneurship and broaden economic development.
The generosity of alumni, families, and friends will indelibly shape the University’s future. Increased philanthropic giving can bolster academic excellence, student mobility, faculty recruitment and retention, research innovation, program development, and regional transformation.
The success of the University’s research enterprise will be vital to building its national and international profile and maximizing its economic impact.
The long-term health of the University requires sustained enrollment growth. Ways to accomplish this include targeting key stakeholders, expanding online delivery options, increasing affordability, and attracting new demographic groups, including Latinx students.
Student engagement is critical to developing feelings of connectedness and a sense of belonging to the University, which can lead to life-long persistence and success. Student learning behaviors and opportunities, along with instructional and student support behaviors, are essential elements of student engagement and success.